This application proposes to utilize data from the Southwestern Sample of the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to investigate alcohol consumption patterns among Mexican Americans by age and gender. Based on interview data on frequency and volume of consumption, four subgroups of subjects are identified: 1) Life-Time Abstainers; 2) Long-Term Abstainers -- people who have not has a drink for a year or more; 3) Recent Abstainers --those not having a drink during the four-week period prior to the interview, but who had drunk during the previous year; and 4) Current Drinkers -- persons who drank during the four weeks prior to the interview. The characteristics of these groups are delineated and examined. In addition to age and gender, these include socioeconomic status, marital status and level of acculturation into the larger society. We hypothesize that differences in drinking levels between older men and younger men reflect "aging" effects, in the sense that they represent reductions from earlier drinking levels. Reasons for quitting or slowing down by older and middle-aged men will relate primarily to health and financial factors. The considerably lower drinking levels of older women, on the other hand, will reflect "cohort" differences in that they represent a continuation of previous drinking patterns. Reasons for not drinking relate primarily to "religious" and socialization factors. Predictors of previous drinking patterns by former drinkers are also examined. We hypothesize that low levels of acculturation are related to previous heavy drinking and the perception of past drinking problems. Low acculturation, on the other hand, is expected to be related to abstinence in middle-aged and older women. Given the exploratory nature of this investigation, many of the analyses will involve descriptive statistics. Multiple regression approaches (both OLS and Logistic) are employed in examining predictors of drinking patterns.